James Tynion IV Writer
Aaron Lopresti Pencils
Matt Ryan Inks
Romulo Fajardo Jr. Colors
Rob Leigh Letters
Lee Weeks & Brad Anderson Cover
This is an interesting series. It's basically DC's version of Marvel's "What If?" line — but in this case, every issue asks "What if the bad guys won?" And in this simple, yet haunting cover, we see that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern have all fallen in Infinite Crisis at the hands of ... Brother Eye and Blue Beetle?!
The framing device for this issue is a cosmic entity named Tempus Fuginaut, who has the ability to observe and compare events in both the Multiverse and the Dark Multiverse. And with Infinite Crisis, Tempus explains how the entire world was doomed by one simple change — Blue Beetle not being killed by Maxwell Lord.
Just like in the real Multiverse, the Crisis began with Ted Kord discovering that Maxwell Lord was plotting to use Batman's satellite, Brother Eye, and his army of OMACs to take over the world. But instead of refusing Lord's offer to join him, Ted tricked his former friend and killed him with his own gun, rationalizing that he was too dangerous and too far along in his plans to be allowed to live.
Blue Beetle then teams up with Brother Eye, or Brother One, as he's called here, and together they take over Checkmate and begin tracking down the Secret Society of Super-Villains. But with each victory, Ted grows bolder and more authoritarian, even expanding his influence to outer space, by sending a legion of OMAC drones to prevent the Rann-Thanagar War. Naturally, this draws the attention of Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime. Ted winds up convincing Prime to turn on Alexander and join him in taking the next major step in his goal for world peace: eliminating all superheroes.
The plan came from Brother Eye's computer-logic, which Ted couldn't argue against ... but was still hesitant to fully enact. So he came up with a compromise — instead of killing the heroes, he would turn them into mindless OMAC drones. And since Prime wouldn't stop complaining about Superboy, Blue Beetle tasked him with bringing in the Teen Titans. And that's where we finally meet this version of Bart Allen.
Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl picked up a distress call from Superboy, but before they can go to him, Conner is brought to them by Superboy-Prime. Tim desperately tries to revive Conner, and Bart openly worries about their odds against someone who could so easily defeat Superboy. Cassie attempts a heroic "Titans together!" But it's all for naught. Untethered from the "morality" of Alexander Luthor, this Superboy-Prime is intentionally and gleefully murdering every hero he sees. And poor Bart is gruesomely vaporized before he can even consider enlisting the other Flashes' aid.
Blue Beetle is furious with Superboy-Prime for disobeying his orders, so he converts him into a mindless drone, as well. The one hero Ted couldn't bring himself to change was his best friend, Booster Gold. But when Booster tried to kill Blue, Brother Eye's defense mechanisms kick in and murder Booster. Distraught by this loss, Ted has the computer completely fuse with him and eliminate all emotion from his mind. And in time, Blue Beetle/Brother Eye conquers the world, creating a horrifying, but peaceful planet.
I enjoyed this story a lot more than I thought I would. It did occasionally get a bit too violent for my tastes, but the artwork was very solid throughout. And the overall concept was really neat, too. Instead of just showing the bad guys winning, it took an unexpected — and frankly improbable — route. Yeah, it seems impossible for Blue Beetle to defeat Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman so easily. But at the same time, that's kind of the point. None of them ever thought Ted would go to the lengths he went to, including Ted. And that's what makes it such a great story. Once he starts rationalizing things, he can't stop. And although he successfully manipulates a few others, it was always Brother Eye who was manipulating him. Yeah, the story did have to go by a little too quick, but I was pleasantly surprised by this comic.
Next time: Action Comics #1017
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